I don’t know if you feel like this or if you know someone who feels like this but very often I hear regrets of people who gave up an instrument when they were a teen.
Well I have always had two. This first is giving up piano when I was 11. I never really got that far with it but as a late teen learning to play Bass and then Guitar. I used to love sitting down at the piano and playing out a few chords and simple melodies. Looking back now a few more years of learning then would have made a significant impact on my playing now. Sadly this is one for the bucket list right now but I do intend on getting lessons again at some point.
My second regret was giving up competitive swimming. As a kid I just loved all the sports. I did every sport I could from an early age. By the time 15 I was playing in the school team in football, rugby, basketball and cricket as well as playing for both a men’s football team on a Saturday and an under 16s team on Sundays. It was not uncommon for me to be competing or training on a daily basis.
To do this something had to give and it was swimming. Many times I had considered going back but never really did anything about it. That was until my daughters got into swimming and I was spending hours sat by the pool with an itch to get back in the pool.
I had dabbled with triathlons and whilst I was above average as a swimmer I never really trained properly and so at 5:30am on 9th January 2018 I braved the Master sessions at Preston Swimming Club.
Spoiler alert – it hurt!
It has been a journey. That first session was harder than any training I had done on my own in recent years. Double the distance, double the speed, tumble turns and a coach pushing me on but after a few weeks it started coming back to me. 4 months later I was back on the starting blocks for my first competition in well over 20 years. Inspired by the age range of around me with swimmers age 18-80 taking part in age banded competition I went for it.
Was I as good as I hoped to be? Not really but my expectations were a little unrealistic to be honest. Fast forward 18 months and I am headed off to British National Masters in Swansea this weekend with a group of local swimmers from Preston Swimming Club hoping to set good times and cheer them on in the hunt for medals and records!
You may have heard me say that “Life is Not a Rehearsal” and so if there is anything you regret giving up why not do a little googling and get started?
I love hearing stories of clients taking up Instruments, starting Painting again, doing Amateur Dramatics and even learning foreign languages in retirement.
If you have a story you would like to share why not let us know.
